Facts about Pennsylvania

1. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn. The name of the state comes from the name of the founder’s father (Admiral William Penn) and not his own. The founder William Penn wanted the state to be named “Sylvania”. (Sylvania is a Latin word meaning “woodlands.”)[2]

2. It is one of the thirteen original (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island) founding states of the United States.[1,14]

3. Did you know that of the original thirteen colonies, Pennsylvania is the only that does not border the Atlantic Ocean? Along with New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Maryland, Pennsylvania is classified as a Middle Atlantic state.

Pennsylvania on the map

4. In October 1682, the younger William brought 360 settlers who believed in religious freedom and a fair government to form this 12th of the 13 English colonies.

5. Philadelphia, the state’s largest city, is home to Independence Hall where the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States’ Constitution were drafted. Philadelphia is also the first planned city in North America.[1,5]

6. Pennsylvania is the second state, after Delaware, to ratify the Constitution of the United States of America. At the time it was the most ethnically and religiously diverse of the thirteen States.[2]

7. The Liberty Bell, an iconic symbol of American Independence, is located in Pennsylvania. The bell can be seen in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park. The bell was commissioned from London in 1751 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. The bell was rung at the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.[5]

8. During the American Revolution, the Liberty Bell was moved from Philadelphia to Allentown. It was returned after the British evacuated Philadelphia.

Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

9. On September 19, 1982, the first internet emoticon, the humble smiley, was invented at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh by Professor Dr. Scott Fahlman. Today, according to some estimate, more than 6 billion emoticons are sent every day.[26]

19. And the first public library was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731 in Philadelphia.[4]

20. Philadelphia is also the place where the first American Flag was sewn in 1777 by Betsy Ross.[4]

21. In 1883, the City Hotel in Pennsylvania was the first building to be lit with Thomas Edison’s three-wire system.[6]

Hershey’s mini chocolate bar.

22. Pennsylvania is also home to one of the largest manufacturer of chocolates in the world – “Hershey”. The company is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The company’s products are sold in over 60 countries.[7]

23. The license plates on automobiles registered in Pennsylvania also have the state’s official website’s URL (www.pa.gov) on it. It is the first state of the 50 states to do so.[16]

Vehicle license plate from Pennsylvania.

24. Pennsylvania has more than 200 covered bridges, the most that any state has in the country.[25]

25. Mount Davis (3,213 ft or 979 m) is the highest point in Pennsylvania.[15]

26. In Pennsylvania, Beef is the third most produced food by value.[10]

27. According to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, PA Office, between 2011 and 2012, there were 63,200 farms in Pennsylvania covering an area of 7,750,000 acres.[9]

28. The state also has the oldest gas station in America. It is situated in Altoona and is operational since 1909.[8]

29. Developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, on February 1954, children of Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received the first injections of the new polio vaccine.[11]

30. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA, is home to the first complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever found.[12]

31. Did you know that Pittsburg is famous for manufacturing steel and its NFL team is the Pittsburg Steelers?

32. Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, co-founded his first steel company near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He sold his company for $480 million and later gave away more than $350 million in philanthropy.[30]

33. Philadelphia Stock Exchange, now owned by Nasdaq Inc. is the oldest stock exchange in the United States. The exchange was originally named as the Board of Brokers of Philadelphia.

35. Pennsylvania was nicknamed “The Keystone State” because of its geographical location among the thirteen original colonies. A keystone is a stone on which the associated stones depend for support. Because of the state’s central location along the arch of the original thirteen colonies, the state is nicknamed the keystone state.[13]

Basket with porcini mushrooms.

36. Did you know that Pennsylvania produces more mushroom than any other state in the U.S.? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS), nearly two-thirds of the white button mushrooms consumed in the United States comes from Pennsylvania.[27]

37. President Lincoln delivered his famous speech, “The Gettysburg Address”, in Gettysburg, PA.[13]

38. The president’s house, home to Presidents George Washington and John Adams, in the city of Philadelphia, served as America’s first executive mansion.